Djokovic breaks silence on Aus Open bombshell

NOVAK Djokovic has slapped down suggestions he tried to convince players on the ATP tour of the need to demand more prizemoney, saying portraits being painted of him as a "greedy" man are unfair.

More than 100 players met in a conference room at a Melbourne Hotel on Friday where Djokovic - who is on the ATP Player Council - addressed the group.

According to the Daily Mail, the Serbian asked all non-players to leave the room so he could talk to his peers about advocating for a breakaway players union to act as a separate entity to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

It was reported he advocated for that union to strongarm the ATP into beefing up the players' pay packets.

But following his 6-1 6-2 6-4 win over American Donald Young on Tuesday, Djokovic slammed reports being spread by the media about what was discussed, saying unequivocally there were no talks of player boycotts over pay demands.

"I saw that some of you have written a story that has been a bit exaggerated and you've taken things out of context and you've portrayed me as someone who is very greedy and asked for more money and asked for a boycott," Djokovic said.

"I respect your freedom and your decisions to do that but not much of what you wrote is true.

"What happened is that we players just wanted to talk about certain topics - I don't think there is anything unhealthy about that.

Djokovic was unhappy after his comfortable first round victory.

"We wanted to use this opportunity to speak about certain subjects and see how everyone reacts to that and see what opinions are. There were no decisions being made, there was no talk of boycotts or anything like that - that's all I can say really."

At this year's Australian Open the prizemoney pool stands at $55 million - which tournament director Craig Tiley says represents a 10 per cent increase from last year. Both winners of the men's and women's singles draws will receive $4 million each in 2018.

There are reports that total figure is slated to double at next year's tournament, with suggestions $100 million will be on the table for players.

Asked if he was in favour of unionising, the Serbian claimed that topic was never raised. He also said there was nothing sinister in reports he asked non-players to leave the room before beginning discussions.

"Listen, I know you guys are trying to take this forward several steps. You talk about unions and boycotts and radical decisions to make and moves so we can get financial compensation the way we deserve it but there was no talk about that.

"I never have intentionally thrown anyone out of the room. Everything was done in a very normal and polite way, the players wanted to stay alone and we talked about the things that we talked about and that's all.

"You never get to hear what the majority of the players think between all the players so that was the whole purpose of it."

Djokovic also denied reports he asked for a lawyer to be present when he addressed his peers.